1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to advertisements in a digital medium. More specifically, this invention relates to placing advertisements for products, services and/or advertisers that may be of interest to a particular consumer in a digital medium, such as an interactive video game, based in part upon the consumer's preferences, and tracking the advertisements that are selected and how often those advertisements are viewed by the consumer.
2. Description of the Related Art
At one time, advertisements were limited to handbills and word-of-mouth. As new mediums for communication developed, so did opportunities and means for advertising. For example, with the advent of newspapers and magazines, advertisements soon began to fill the pages alongside the daily or weekly news.
Such advertising generally proved to be a benefit to all parties involved. Advertisers were able to tout their latest products or services (or those of their clientele); newspapers and magazines were able to offset the costs of printing through the sale of advertising space; and consumers were able to learn of new products of interest through their interaction with these various forms of media. This beneficial relationship amongst the advertiser, media, and consumer held true with regard to the arrival of radio and television.
Advertisers and media outlets are now, however, finding themselves challenged by the rise of digital media, especially with regard to video games and portable digital media devices. As the advertising power of older mediums decreases due to the rise of video games and portable digital media as forms of entertainment, advertising buys for product and service offerings are seen by less people as a whole and, demographically, less of the power-buying public. As such, there has become an increased effort to expand advertising to digital media.
Despite the ability to introduce advertising content into, for example, a video game environment, the user may often dislike an advertisement selected automatically or at random, or may wish to customize the environment or game. For example, in a racing game, a user might wish to customize his or her racecar with advertising content such as a name, logo, or other advertising for a particular product or service, as is done in real life, to enhance the appearance of the car. Similarly, in a sports game, a user might wish to display particular advertising content on the shirt or uniform of a game character or team, rather than leave the shirt or uniform blank, or displaying some default or random selection.
Many users have a genuine interest in a particular product or service, to the extent that they may wish to incorporate advertising content related to that product or service that they find appealing into their game or other digital environment. Similarly, advertisers spend considerable sums of money for the placement of advertising content in a particular game environment, and may be willing to pay more when they know that the user deems the content to be desirable. Accordingly, there is a need for users to be able to select those advertisements for products and/or services that are of interest to appear in a digital environment and to track those selections so that advertisers may know which content is considered more desirable by the users.